MLS: Tottenham signs Sounders' Yedlin to 4-year deal

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Tukwila, Wash. • U.S. national team defender DeAndre Yedlin signed a four-year deal with Tottenham on Wednesday but will remain in the United States with the Seattle Sounders through the remainder of the MLS season and potentially into 2015.

Both clubs announced the deal after Yedlin spent last weekend in London visiting with Spurs officials and the sides were able to finalize the deal. Tottenham said Yedlin would join the club ahead of the 2015-16 season, but Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer said the window for the move is still unknown.

Hanauer said Yedlin could make the move during the January transfer window depending on where Tottenham stands. Or the move could come next summer and Yedlin could remain with the Sounders a little longer.

"We didn't put the full-court press on DeAndre staying," Hanauer said. "We weighed all the different factors, the benefits to our club, what DeAndre wanted, what the market was telling us out there in terms of the size of the transfer fee and ultimately made the decision based on that group of factors. We thought it was ultimately a good decision for our club, although a difficult one."

Yedlin made his international debut this year and impressed when he came in for injured right back Fabian Johnson in the second-round loss to Belgium. He was immediately linked with clubs throughout Europe and Hanauer said there were a number of serious offers.

But Tottenham eventually became his destination. The 21-year-old was the first MLS homegrown player to appear in the World Cup and has been an MLS all-star selection each of his first two years in the league. The first inkling of Tottenham's interest came in July when the Spurs were in Seattle for an exhibition with the Sounders as part of their preseason North American tour.

Yedlin could join Seattle teammate Clint Dempsey and goalkeepers Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel as Americans who have played for Tottenham. However, he may not be eligible for a British work permit. The rules of the British Home Office state a player must have appeared in 75 percent of his nation's competitive international matches over the previous two years, and American forward Juan Agudelo was turned down when Stoke applied for a permit last year.

"DeAndre clearly wanted this transaction to occur as well and we want to do right by our players as well as our club," Hanauer said.

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